Tears of the Lost
by TheLastShinobi
Summary: Naruto has never known love until a single mishap saves him from eternal darkness. Naruto walks the line between total submission and unwavering strength as his hope is ripped from him around every corner. He must learn to trust those around him and is given an incredible gift. He must choose to save his hero or to protect his future of the village. M for violence.


**Tears of the Lost**

**Chapter I**

**Savior**

Eternal darkness swirled and lashed his heart, encompassing it. He was suffocating, drowning in hate, choking on fear. He was surrounded on all sides, the darkness like the frozen arms of the devil, wrapping him up and leaving him cold and shivering alone in the dark. He had nobody but the voice that was always present and sent horror through his very being. He was raised by hatred and pain, brewing inside him from his coming to this unforgiving land.

And then there was light.

**-Tears of the Lost-**

Rain pelted the prosperous village as a lone man ran through its empty streets. It came in sheets and was like ice on the man's face. His hair in a spiked ponytail and a scar running across the bridge of his nose, the sole thought in his mind was to get home and dry, with a nice cup of hot chocolate in his hands.

His musings were interrupted when his foot caught something and he was sent sprawling across the street. Upset about getting muddy and wet after a hard day of work, the man turned and confronted what he had tripped over. He was greeted by a shock of blond and all his instincts told him to yell and get even angrier.

His rational side won out when the boy stood up.

The first thing that struck out was that the kid was very, _very_, small. He was thinner than any child his age should have been and he could probably lock his fingers together and his hands would still encircle the boy's waist. His arms and legs were thin and looked extremely fragile, like they would snap like twigs. His face was sallow, with prominent cheekbones poking through his skin and his hair was dirty and would have been a golden blond, but looked no better than the pus that came out of infected wounds. He could even count each and every rib through the boy's shirt!

That was the second thing. His clothes were so old and worn that they were a pale, faded grey. The edges were ragged and ripped and the shirt clung to the boy, easily too small for him. On top of that, the boy had a scar running from just between his lip and nose, on the left side of his face, that rand down across the left side of his chin, disappeared underneath his throat, reappeared on his neck and ran down to stop on the left side of his collarbone.

The was a new cut that started on the left side of his forehead, cut down across his eyebrow, stopped above his eyelid, and then spiked up and down like a bolt of lightning, just missing the corner of his eye and ending in a jagged line in the middle of his cheek.

On his cheeks themselves were three symmetrical scars that looked very much like whiskers. These looked the oldest of the scars that he had.

The worst, however, were the boy's eyes. They were blue, but not a vibrant blue. His eyes were pale, completely dead, and held the greatest amount of pain and acceptance that he had ever seen, let alone thought possible. Not even Kakashi's eyes held this held this much pain in them.

He walked up to the boy and knelt in front of his. The boy stepped back and flinched when he put out his hand, so he let it fall to his side.

"Hello, my name is Iruka." The boy stared at him, fright present in the way he moved. He was anticipating an attack and knew he would not be able to overpower the man in front of him.

"Shouldn't you be home?" The boy was caught off guard and nearly stumbled, his face displaying pure sorrow.

"Home?"

Iruka nearly broke down crying right there in the middle of the barren street, for now he knew then exactly who this boy was. He found he could not find it in him to hate the boy. The fox took his parents and his love, but he had taken so much more from the poor child before him. The boy had no soul, no spirit within, yet even Iruka could see that those empty blue pits could not find hate, would accept punishment, for that is all the boy knew. Iruka made up his mind.

He took off his chunin vest and draped it over the boy's shoulders, protecting him from the frozen rain. He picked him up, held him close to his chest and began running back from the way he came. The young boy clung to his shirt as if it were a lifeline. Iruka looked down through his wet hair to find the boy sleeping.

**-Tears of the Lost-**

Supporting the child with one hand and knocking with the other, Iruka let out a heavy sigh. The voice on the other end of the door called for him to enter. Hiruzen was surprised to see the academy teacher already back in his office.

"Iruka my boy, what brings you here, shouldn't you be on your way home?" Iruka sat on a chair in front of the Hokage's desk and sat the blind in his lap so that the side of his face rested against his chest and the boy's legs hung of the side of his own. Iruka barely took note of the fact that he was still clutching onto the sodden shirt.

The young chunin looked up to see the sullen face of the Third Hokage.

"You know who he is…don't you Hokage-Sama." He watched as the older man study the face of the small boy in his arms. The flash of horror and recognition that ran across his features was immediate. The man gripped the edge of the desk and called out, "Cat, get me Dog, _now_!"

The ANBU, never having seen her Hokage so demanding, left in a burst of speed and returned within a minute, her ANBU captain in tow.

"Cat, dismissed." As she left, Hiruzen gestured for the ANBU to remove his mask and beckoned him closer. He put his head in his hands and whispered loud enough for the two of them to hear.

"Dear Kami, Minato, what have I done." Kakashi's eyes opened wide in surprise at the mention of the name.

"Hokage-Sama, what does sensei have to do with this?" The man simply pointed to the bundle in Iruka's arms. Kakashi was confused for a few moments, when recognition dawned on him, just as it had on the Hokage. Iruka looked at the two questioningly.

"Do you know his name?" It came out of the Hokage's mouth as no more than a whisper in the wind.

"Naruto…Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze." They stared at him in awed silence, when the blonde's awakening startled them. His head shot up and blue eyes moved around wildly. He jumped away from Iruka and crouched in the corner of the room, a Kunai taken from Iruka's pouch in hand.

Recognising the face of the scarred man, his stance softened slightly, but he still held the weapon firmly.

"I-I'm not a-afraid t-t-to hurt y-you!" Iruka approached the boy and knelt down on both knees on front of him, palms up to show he had no weapons. He spread his arms and smiled softly at the boy, who lowered the arm that held the kunai.

"Come to papa, Naruto." His smile increased slightly, he liked how it sounded.

"P…papa?" Iruka nodded slightly as the blond stumbled into the embrace and began to cry softyl. The Hokage and Kakashi echoed the boy's words.

"Papa?" Iruka turned his head to look at the man behind the desl.

"Yes Hokage-Sama, I wish to adopt Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. He need me, so I'll be there for him. The two began to protest.

"Iruka, you're only twenty, are you sure you can take the responsibility to teach and care for a child at the same time?" Iruka smiled "I'll make it work."

The Hokage nodded. "Good, the boy needs a father like you Iruka. Good luck."

That night, Naruto learned the meaning of the word _home_. It was now his new favorite.


End file.
